EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, said: "I welcome this move as a sign of recognition for our comprehensive and effective measures to eradicate BSE in Europe. I hope the US will now act expeditiously to extend the approval to all imports from the EU and I call on the remaining EU partners who still maintain restrictive measures to fully adopt recognised international standards."

"In times when we are working hard to build a new partnership for trade and investment, keeping old unnecessary obstacles makes no sense. I am glad we are going in the right direction in this respect and hope that the Dutch beef producers will be able to benefit from the new market opportunities very soon," said EU Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmström.

"Opening the US market to Dutch beef provides a further export outlet for our high quality EU product. Unlocking technical barriers to exports is part of our diplomatic offensive to drive exports and find new markets for EU producers," said EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan.

After Ireland and Lithuania, the Netherlands is the third EU country to gain access to the US market since the BSE-related ban. The opening of the US market to Dutch beef sends a positive signal to producers in other parts of the EU that are still waiting for the end of the disproportionately strict and lasting US trade restrictions.

Background

The US market has been closed to EU beef since January 1998, when the US introduced import restrictions on beef, as well as sheep, goats and their products, on the basis of BSE concerns.

These measures went beyond the recommendations of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) according to which deboned beef, for instance, is safe and can be freely traded from all countries regardless of its BSE status.

In addition, according to the OIE evaluation of BSE risk in the EU Member States – based on standards established in 2005 -, almost all of them presented not more, and sometimes less risk than most countries in the world. In other words, EU beef is safe.

The EU guarantees a high level of food safety for consumers both in the EU and abroad, based on international standards and solid science. The agriculture and food sectors should be able to capitalise on this achievement.